Royal Air Squadron Trophy Competition

WE WERE AT SCHOOL almost two hours before sunrise on a Sunday to travel to the Regional round of the Air Squadron Trophy competition. The journey was filled with leafing through our thick military knowledge and aircraft recognition resources and testing each other, getting our answers right to the letter. By the time we arrived at RAF Halton, we were no longer only half awake and rubbing the sleep out of our eyes, but primed and ready for a long day of drill, uniform checks and remembering the past few months’ worth of practice.

The day started with the uniform inspection and drill routine, which itself had been drilled into our heads every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday for weeks beforehand. Then came the command task, a test of both leadership and teamwork, in which we placed 2nd out of 15. While the rest of the team was doing the aircraft recognition (AR) test, me and 3 others were being marked on our shooting abilities. Although one of our co-captains was on course for best shot, we were beaten to first place. The rest of the team took first place in the AR test, with one of them scoring the best out of every individual cadet taking the test. Finally, military knowledge, in which we placed second, led to an end result of 2nd place overall, which qualifies us for the Nationals, close behind one of our long-time rivals, Maidstone Grammar.

This sniff of victory will only make us work harder in preparation for the Nationals in March, where we hope to bring the trophy home for the second time in Wilson’s School CCF history.